There was a time when some sort of virtual character interaction MMPRPG web-world was envisioned that would use A:M's data-light spline technology. I think that was what the "avatar" format was for.
Possibly it also had something to do with that game studio in Utah?
I'll try to get a look at teh PRj later.
W is one component of Quaternion rotation, normal for A:M.
I have a brief video that probably doesn't answer all you need to know about it...
You can change the default Quat interpolation to Euler or Vector by RMBing on the transform>rotation in the properties.
Even the big studio shorts like Pixar does tend to be very small scope things, like that birds-on-a-wire short. Great idea with just the bare minimum of set and character models to get it across.
the poly and avatar are Hash formats so they wont' get you much in the outside world.
3DS is a standard format, although most 3ds models are poor candidates for import to A:M because they tend to be triangles, not quads
in v17 we now have added
.X
.dxf
.obj
.lwo
.stl
At a convention I heard this story from a guy who ran a VFX studio but also taught animation at a school in Los Angeles.
His class had gotten to the point of starting their final projects and they had to run them by him for approval. One boy had a great idea that the teacher approved right away. A girl in the class had an idea that was borderline lame but it fulfilled the assignment so he approved that too.
A week later the boy comes in with a better idea which is obviously superior so the teacher approves changing his project.
The next week the boy comes back with an even more fabulous idea and the teacher approves it even though time was running out.
In the end, the boy never got his project finished and had nothing to show for all his work but the girl who had been working all along got hers done and had a nice piece for her reel.
The moral... "the worst animations are the ones that don't get finished"
Two great examples among us of getting-it-done are Spleen and Largento.
They set sane limits to their project scope based on what they can do and the time they have to do it in.
It's been so long since I've used any other 3D program I'm not sure what they even do to let you know they are still working.
After Effects just has a progress bar and a frame counter which has fooled me on several occasions.
The CPU overhead for flipping thru the frames of that animation will be microscopic.
Consider that the A:M forum has multiple simultaneous animated GIFs scrolling across the top and that doesn't load my CPU even 1% of its capacity.
Bachelor #1
the IBL is a light source like other lights, it illuminates things without being visible itself to the camera. You only need the dome if you want the camera to see sky in the background.
That is my understanding of it.
Lookin' good. Have you tried FakeAO with the hair? that might help to darken the skin and hair roots.
The problem I see is when the surface is angled such that the hairs are pointing straight at the camera and the hair doesn't appear to cover the skin.
It's pretty much the same as going back to the model window and changing the model. You aren't creating animation, you are changing the original shape of the model.
v14? maybe there was a v15 that ran on a CD?
v13
everything from v13 on should be able to do that.
In practice there are a few problems with constraints from VERY old versions like v5
Rough rule... you attach it when it looks better to do that. Organic things tend to be attached together. You would attach toes to feet but not a doorknob to a door.
I'm not sure how a flower petal is really attached to a stem. There tend to be so many petals that you can't see the attachment anyway.